Pace Reporting Service, Inc. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA HOUSE PENDER/NEW HANOVER REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING

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Charles Nelson Wilson
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1 THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA HOUSE PENDER/NEW HANOVER REDISTRICTING COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING TRANSCRIPT OF THE PROCEEDINGS May, 0 f..'>i; i.. COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Rep. Grier Martin, Chair Rep. Martha Alexander Rep. Hugh Holliman Rep. Sandra Hughes Rep. Carolyn Justice Rep. Daniel McComas Rep. Paul Starn Rep. Bonner Stiller Rep~ Ronnie Sutton Rep. William Wainwright In Raleigh, N.C. Reported by: : 00 P. M. Katherine M. Becker ~.." ) General Court Reporting - Videotaping Post Office Box Cary> NC Telephone: () Facsimile: () - Fayetteville: () - Wilmington: () 0-

2 -i- COM MIT TEE S T A F F Ms. Erika Churchill Mr. Bill Gilkeson Ms. Denise Huntley Ms. Kara McCraw Ms. Sylvia Harrunons,Corrnnittee Clerk Ms. Holly Danford Wilmington () 0- Raleigh () Fayetteville () -

3 May th, 0 - one-party racial state that lasted until the 0s I down in the Black Belt counties in eastern North Carolina. suit. By, all of the South had followed It's--I think it's very important that we keep bearing this history in mind as we make policy and move forward. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, I have some written material that I w~ntedto distribute to the J Committee, if that would be all right. THE CHAIR: That's fine. If you'd give that to the sergeants-at-arms, they'can distribute that for you. MR. TYSON: Thank you very much. THE CHAIR: Thank you, Dr. Tyson. Next up I have Dr. William Barber, president of the state NAACP. ""nr;.;;ba~ber~} Just--before you cut the clock on, let me say that Dr. Tyson is also our Centennial History Chair of the North Carolina NAACP, and we're certainly glad to be here with him. THE CHAIR: Thank you, Dr. Barber. -And before the clock starts, also let me note that Wilmington () 0- + Raleigh () Fayetteville () -

4 May th, 0 - the--the Chair does have a preference in shade of blue, and the Chair directs that Dr.,Tyson be listed as a representative of the University of North Carolina. I apologize for my--the podium- Representative Starn? REP. STAM: THE CHAIR: I second that motion. Dr. Barber, the podium is yours. Sorry. DR. BARBER: This room needs a lot of prayer. Let me ask other presidents to come and stand with me, Dr. Stephens from Pender County, Harold Beatty from New Hanover, and Ms. Sylvia Barnes from Goldsboro, and any other NAACP--and I want to thank Dr. Tyson for his statement. As you make these decisions, let us also hear what the courts have said. Justice Kennedy, the one who wrote the judgment for the Supreme Court--U.S. Supreme Court that five justices upheld and four dissented that upheld the striking down of District t'hat was only, remember a four-three vote by the North Carolina Supreme Court, with two of the justices dissenting--but even in his judgment to strike down District, listen at what Wilmington () 0- + 'Raleigh () Fayetteville () -

5 May th, 0 - he said: "Racial discrimination and racially polarized voting are not ancient history. Much remains to be done to ensure that citizens of all races have equal opportunity to share and participate in our democratic processes and traditions, and Section must be interpreted to ensure that continued process." Even in his judgment on this case, he still said if there were a showing that a state intentionally drew district line? in order- to destroy or otherwise effective--otherwise effective crossover districts, which this is, that would raise serious questions under both the th and the th Amendments. He further said even in his judgment, "Our holding also should not be interpreted to entrench majority minority districts by statutory command, for that, too, could pose constitutional concerns. See Miller versus Johnson. States that wish to draw crossover districts are free to do so where no other prohibition exists." So in North Carolina, we can wish to take seriously this history that briefly Dr. Tyson just gave us. We can take--we can wish to make sure Wilmington () 0- + Raleigh () Fayetteville () -

6 May th, 0 that District remains a crossover district as long as we don't overly split the counties. We can, wish to acknowledge the deep legacy of--and denial of justice in this area, and we can wish to be better in our future than we have been in our past. Now, in the dissent of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Souter said this: "Section protects not merely the right of the minority voters to put ballots in the box, but a claim--but to claim a fair number of districts in which their votes can be effective." Further, Justice Souter said, in short, UTo the extent the plurality's holding is taken to control future results, the plurality"--talking about the five justices who had voted to strike down--fleliminated protection of Section for the district that best vindicates the goals of the statute and has done all it can to force the state to perpetuate racially concentrated districts, the quintessential manifestation of race consciousness in American politics, I respectfully dissent.fi And we in the NAACP dissent as well on this ruling. We believe the Supreme Court of North Carolina four-three decision was wrong. It was. P ace Reporting Service, Inc. Wilmington () 0- Raleigh () Fayetteville () -

7 May th; 0 - wrong historically. We believe the U.S. Supreme Court was wrong, because it did not take seriously this history of'disenfranchisement that exists in North Carolina. But it's not just past disenfranchisement. We need minority representation because white buying power in New Hanover County is four million--over four million dollars, but among, African-Americans, it's only four hundred and seventy-nine thousand--four hundred and seventynine million. Excuse me. It's four billion for whites, four hundred and seventy-nine million for blacks. And in Pender County, white buying power is eight hundred and forty-five million, but only one hundred and thirty-four million in 0 in- among African-Americans. We know that in Pender it's twenty-six- twenty-three-point-six percent (.%) black today, but we also know black students passing the end-ofgrade tests in Pender is only forty-four-point-two percent (.%). We know that in--in New Hanover African-Americans represent seventeen percent (%) of the population, and we know that black students passing the end-of-grade test is only thirty-nine- Wilmington () 0- Raleigh () Fayetteville () -

8 May th, 0 point-two percent (.%). So we've never been honest about this history_ We've never been honest about why Pender County was split from New Hanover in the first place. In this area, we have not recovered from what was lost in and in all the ripple effect of that, and we do not know if we will ever recover from But we, need to keep this a crossover district and do as little as possible. A few months ago, this body apologized for Wilmington, apologized for. Well, an apology is anemic, it's weak, unless we keep this district as a crossover district. We can talk about other disparities. We will put it in writing to this Committee. We thank you for your time, but we can wish to do the right thing in this matter. THE CHAIR: Thank you very much, Dr. Barber. Next on the list I have F.D. Rivenbark, Pender County Commissioner. And as you move up to the podium, let me take care of one other housekeeping matter. had another member of our Committee join us. We've Representative Stiller, would you mind introducing Wilmington () 0- Raleigh () Fayetteville () -

HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY POLL MEMO RELEASE 3/31/2015

HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY POLL MEMO RELEASE 3/31/2015 ELEMENTS Population represented Sample size Mode of data collection Type of sample (probability/nonprobability) Start and end dates of data collection